Improvement in water-wheels



aient v@titille n To all whom it may. concern being broken away.

In the drawings- JAMES DQBuYsoN AND J. H. HAnTsFF, ,or Nnwoiis'rtn, PENNSYLVANIA.

. Letters Patent No. 97,869, dated December 14, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT '1N WATER-WHEELS.

'The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and makn'g part: ofhthe same.

Beit known that we, JAMES D. BRYsoN and J. H. HARTSUFE, of Newcastle, in the State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Casngs` for Turbine Water-Wheels; and we Vdo hereby declare that the-.following is a full, clear,

and exact description of the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this speciiication, in which; K p

Figure l` isa plan View, a portion ofthe upper ring This invention has for its dbject the introduction Y to a water-wheel of the. greatest possible amount of water that can economically be usedby it.

` `Weseek to accomplish this 4end by dispensing with a curb altogether, and placing nothing around the periphery of the `wheel but chutes and gates.

. '.lo enable thosev .skilled inthe art to niakeaud use our inventionfwe 'now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Similar letters, `init-he drawings, refer to like parts. The invention'c'onsists iin pivoting `the gates, by means f trunnions projecting from their upper and lower edges, to slidingrings placed outsideof stationary rings, the latterbeing attached to` the-.upper and lower edges of the chutes, and thesliding of the former being effected by any suitable mechanical appli auces;A the gates being lso placed, with reference to the chutes, that when open, they lie close'alongside the hitter, so as to interpose only the combined thickness val' the two asan ohstacleto the water; the outer ends of thc gates andchutes being made sharp, and their sides being perfectly smooth; -thef-gat-es having greater superficial surface outside ofgthan within the trunnioiis, jin order thatV the pressure ofthe water may keep their outer ends always'in' contact with the chutes, and thus out of the way 'ot' the4 water when the gates are open, and' aibrding no crevice to the waterwhen the gates are closed; the chutes having straight sides, and the gates being convex as to the chutes throughout their entire surface, so as to avoid corners, which more or less hinder' the watelis ow; each gate -havingran independentas i'vell as a concur. rent motion, so that an `obstruitiou to the closing of one does not a'ect the operation of its fellows.

. A is the cown'plate, to the un`der side of which, and'iiush with'its lperiphery, is bolted a ring, (not shown,) next which is the inner e'dge of the upper. sliding ring a., resting on the columns a". 4

Thellowersliding,ringaf-is connected with'the upper harmless by their position.'

one by said columns, andhas an inner ring to turn on,

placed in a groove in the bed-plate of the casing, im-

mediately beneath the upper inner ring.

Thechutes bare cast in connection with the two inner rings, and are placed, with reference to each other, on the familiar principle of affording gradually` contracted veins for 'the nux of water.

The chutes are chamfered at their ends to facilitate the entrance and exit of water to and from the veins.

The rings a a slide, through the operation ofthe usual vertical gear-postl c, meshing with 'series of teeth in the outer edges of the rings.

rlhe gates d are pivotcd vertieall y to the rings, and

-extend further outward from their pivots than inward from the same, in order that the water may keep their sharpened ends always in contact with the sides of the chutes, in order that` they may thus be never in the waters \vay,'and no orifice be ever` opened .when the gates are shut.

So long as there is water outside them, when closed, its own pressure keeps it outside, till the gates arel opened by the action of the slidingrings.

'lhe gates are convex as to the chutes, so as to avoid all angles rexcept those they make at their outer ends with the chutes, which angles are rendered Everything about the inlet-passages is contrived to avoid allsorts of obstacles t'o the How of water.

0n the opening ofthe gates, they slide vclose alongside the chutes, so `as to afford the amplest possible passages. y

As long as there i.. water to ilo\v,`it preserves the amplitude ofthe passages by its pressure' upon the gates thus drawn to one side.

The. pivot-pins of all the gates have co-Qrdinate and couter-minous motions,` but each gate may have a motion of," its own upon its pivot, and this peculiarity allows any gate to yield to an obstruction, without stopping thelnotiou of the rings.V

The contrivances herein described heilig entirely Y suicient to the needs of the wheel, no curb. is re quired. I

Having thus described our invention,

g \Vhat we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,-is-

'lhe sliding rings a a', in combination with the fixed chutes b and the gates d, when the latter have asliding motion in opening and closing the water-veins, and also an independent motion on their pivots, substantially as described. v JAS. D. BRYSON. Witnesses: v. J. H. HARTSUFF.

SAMUEL VANHORN, JN0. FIELD. 

